Various number of faucets, particularly water faucets, are known from prior art, providing different techniques to control the flow of fluid. Regarding water faucets, the most common types have been faucets utilizing both hot and cold water. In the past these faucets had separate water control valve members in the form of water control units or knobs that were individually controlled to turn on or off the flow of water through the spout of the water faucet. More recently faucets with a single water control unit have been developed, in order to eliminate the use of two separate water control units, simplifying the control of water temperature. In the above cases the water control units are generally disposed adjacent to the spout of the faucet, but separate from the spout. The use of these prior art water faucet devices requires the use of both hands to turn the water faucet and simultaneously position a glass or the like under the outlet of the spout.
Due to possible contamination of water sources the concern about obtaining purified or filtered water has increased in recent years. As a result a significant water treatment industry has been developed to provide people with purified or filtered water. Different types of filtration devices have been developed to ensure delivery of high quality water to consumers in homes and businesses.
For these water purification devices, special faucets were developed to produce the external flow of water to be used by the consumers. These faucets generally did not have both hot and cold water options, but were primarily utilized to deliver cold water of high purity.
As prior art water faucet devices need an action both to turn on and to turn off the water faucet, a problem occurs when a user forgets to turn it off, as loss of water occurs, which might be significant. Disabled persons may further have difficulties operating such faucets. There was thus a need for self-closing water faucet devices, especially for delivering high purity water, preferably devices that would permit the flow of water out of the water faucet to be stopped by merely removing a user's hand from contact with the water control unit of the water faucet device, and that would even permit a user to use the same one hand to both turn the water on and to simultaneously pour water into a glass or the like.
There exists various types of faucet devices for delivering liquids of different kind that are naturally or automatically turned off, present in cafés, restaurants companies, public places and similar locations, and particularly water faucet devices, some with the need of two hands to turn the water on and simultaneously pour water in to a glass or the like, and some which even provide the possibility to use one hand to simultaneously turn it on and pour water into a glass or the like. These devices are generally quite complicated and expensive and not suitable for private use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,593 discloses a water faucet with spout which is used to control whether water is dispensed from the water faucet or not dispensed therefrom. The spout of the water faucet in its normal, untouched position functions to prevent water from flowing through the water faucet for external use. If the spout is raised or lowered, there is a flow of water through the water faucet because of a valve located within the spout and a base member holding the spout at a bottom portion thereof.
A disadvantage with U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,593 is that the risk for leakage between lower portion of the spout and the interior surface of the base support member is quite significant tilting and up and down movements of the spout, and due to wear on the gasket caused by these movements. Due to tilting of the spout, wear on the T-shaped valve member is also likely. The up and down motion option is unnatural and thus in that case the user has to “fight” gravity which is not particularly intuitive or convenient for e.g. disabled persons. When operated there is no clear position, i.e. the spout is floating configured, which makes the operation unstable, and there is a risk of spilling water. Further, the wedged shaped member used does not provide a good solution to achieving continuous flow as it is not very smooth to handle, i.e. it needs to be moved down the spout, which might cause difficulties if it does not run smoothly, and then wedged between the base support member and the spout in order to lock the spout in a continuous flow position. There is also the risk of the wedged shaped member getting stuck there, and also the risk of the wedged shaped member sliding down when not intended, causing an unintended continuous flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,998 discloses a self-closing valve with a tiltable outlet member which is supported in a valve housing by means of a ball-and-socket type support and which, when forcibly tilted, lifts a pressure-biased valve plate off an upstream-facing valve seat in the housing. The valve plate incorporates a radially or axially protruding gasket, clamped or vulcanized in place, or the valve seat is part of a resilient seat ring insert. Resilient sealing and shock-dampening members cooperate with the tiltable outlet member.
A disadvantage with U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,998 is that it is not suitable for filling large containers as it only provides a self-closing closing valve, which needs to be subjected to an outside force during the whole filling process, which is not convenient when filling larger containers, and even quite limited containers. Further, the large flat sealing surface area causes this solution to be sensitive to sealing material deformation with leakage as a result after a short time in service. In stand-by position there is no external force applied to the sealing gaskets which causes the risk of water leakage through the spout in closed position (dripping faucet). Further, when trying to open the water flow through the faucet the user is expected to push the end of the spout, which action can cause the spout to turn around its axis instead of expected tilting rendering the faucet to remain closed.